You read an interesting article online. You get to the end, and your eye glosses over the comment section, because you know it’s full of spam and rage.

You see someone’s thoughtful input on a reddit post, think to yourself: “wow, I feel exactly the same way.” And completely forget their username 5 minutes later.

You send an email or text message, and you’re surprised to find out the recipient was upset because your tone got lost in translation.

While anonymity and text communication serve crucial purposes online, it shouldn’t be universal. At speakme, we want to make the world feel smaller by giving you a way to truly connect.

speakme is a social video experience where users collaborate in global discussions about anything and everything they care about. Members login with social media profiles, and record videos of up to 30 seconds about topics that matter to them. Others publicly respond via their own recorded videos, and these responses play sequentially, creating a full, vibrant conversation; less like a bulletin board, and more like a dinner conversation with familiar faces. By combining users’ social media presences with face- to-face interactions, we are seeking to make the internet a friendlier, more engaging, and collaborative place.

The team starts with two co-founders, Zack and Adam Fisch. Adam’s focus is on product, UI, marketing, and finance. He has a JD from Western University and spent several years doing investment research. Zack is technical manager, with knowledge in HTML, CSS and Python, and a degree in History from the University of Waterloo.

speakme is working with GrandBright Software, a development firm in Richmond Hill, Ontario, to bring the idea to life. GrandBright’s two principals each have over 20 years’ experience in developing enterprise applications.

speakme is currently looking to bring on a technical cofounder, as we ramp up prototype testing and prepare for beta launch in the coming weeks. If you or someone you know wants to know more, please get in touch!